Making Connections Blog Hop Winner!

Posted on September 17, 2017 by

We have a winner!


Congratulations to Cathy Bremer! I’ve contacted you via e-mail. Thanks to everyone for playing along!

Have a great day!

Posted in Uncategorized | Leave a comment

Slow Stitching Sunday ~ Vintage Pyramids

Posted on September 17, 2017 by

The hand quilting on the vintage top is coming along nicely. It is fairly small, just 45 by 70 inches.

I didn’t want to have to mark anything, so I decided to just quilt straight lines by eye. This means there is some wonkiness built in! Here is a look at the back.

Have a happy Sunday!

Linking up with Kathy’s Quilts

Posted in Hand quilting, Uncategorized, Vintage Quilts | 11 Comments

Fish Town

Posted on September 16, 2017 by

Over Labor Day weekend, Mr. Wonderful and I visited Fish Town in Leland, Michigan. Here is a blurb from the web site which explains better than I can.

Northern Michigan’s commercial fishing heritage remains alive today in Leland’s Fishtown! Walk along the docks, amongst the weathered fishing shanties, smokehouses, racks of drying fishing nets, and fish tugs on the Leland River, and you can imagine what it would have been like in the early 1900s to live and work in this small fishing village, nestled along the shore of Lake Michigan. Fishtown still operates as one of the only working commercial fishing villages in the state of Michigan. 

It is a very picturesque place to visit. Here are some photos I took. 

It was actually quite crowded and took some waiting and cropping to get photos without people!

Have a great day!

Posted in Photography, Uncategorized | 6 Comments

Finish It Up Friday ~ Baby Quilt 

Posted on September 15, 2017 by

Here is the finished bab quilt that I gave to my friend at her shower last weekend.

I quilted swirls on the sides and continuous curve in the parallelograms.

I managed to e p enough matching fabrics for a pieced back.

It’s so nice when you can make the whole thing from stash!

Have a great day!

Linking up with Busy Hands Quilts, Crazy Mom Quilts, Confessions of a Fabric Addict

Posted in Baby Quilts, Finishes, Free Motion Quilting, Fresh Modern Quilts, Long Arm Quilting, Longarm Quilting, Uncategorized | 9 Comments

Progress

Posted on September 14, 2017 by

I finished quilting my batik rectangles quilt and I’m on to the binding stage.

I decided to bind this practice piece to make a table runner.

And I haven’t forgotten my leader/ended project. I’m up to 117 of these 6 inch blocks.

I started my 4 patches for the Humble Quilts QAL.

I needed 2 inch cut squares. There is more waste than I would like using a charm pack for this, but it did save me a lot of time.

This is the die I used. It took me about 2 minutes to accurately cut 168 2 inch squares. For me, that makes that amount of waste totally worth it.

You can find all the current Accuquilt deals here. They also have new free patterns available here. I do make a small commission on any purchases made through links on my blog.

Have a great day!

Posted in Accuquilt, Uncategorized | 3 Comments

This and That Wednesday

Posted on September 13, 2017 by

I’ve been flitting from one thing to another this week. I finally have this on the frame.


Before I loaded that, I had some leftover backing on the frame and decided to play with some free motion ideas. 


I used this Fantastico variegated thread from Superior Threads.


Since this piece is long and narrow, I suppose it could become a table runner.

Also, have you heard that Lori at Humble Quilts has just started another of her famous quilt alongs? I usually go scrappy for these. But I’m thinking about using this charm pack with a couple added fat quarters this time.


Time to get to work!

Have a great day!

Posted in Free Motion Quilting, Long Arm Quilting, Longarm Quilting, Uncategorized | 5 Comments

Binding on the Long Arm

Posted on September 12, 2017 by

I’m nearing the finish line for my log cabin quilt. I know of several long armers that add the binding to the quilt before removing it from the frame. I decided I would give it a try with this quilt. 

I placed the binding with the cut edge lined up with the edge of the quilt. The edge of the foot on my long arm is one quarter inch from the needle so I line the edge of the foot up with the cut edge of the binding. I started out using a ruler to keep the seam line straight.

Even with that I had some wobbles.

At the corners, I sewed off the corner just like I do on my domestic machine. Instead of cutting the thread, I “park” the machine just out of the way.

Then I fold my corners as usual and start sewing from the edge. You can see the stitches where I moved the machine. This will all get trimmed away.

When I got near the end, I trimmed so one end was about an inch longer than the other. I folded back one end as shown.

Then I tucked the other end inside and continued stitching.

I got a little pleat. Hopefully it won’t be too noticeable when the hand stitching is done.


Once this was all sewn on, I removed the quilt from the frame and trimmed it. Now I’m ready for the hand stitching. This process involved tolling the quilt back and forth big on the fame, and will require some practice. Overall, I’m glad I took the time to learn a new way to do this and will likely do it again.

Have a great day!

Posted in Long Arm Quilting, Longarm Quilting, Tutorials, Uncategorized | 4 Comments